Monday, December 1, 2014

Musings: Dog Day

Gosh, the Kauai County Council hasn't
even been sworn in yet, and Councilman Gary Hooser has already come
out swinging, sowing divisiveness and assuming the role of Council
crybaby previously held by defeated Councilman Tim Bynum.

Gary even engaged the perennially
inaccurate blogger Andy Parx to do the whining for him, just as Tim
so often did, using him to stir up shit by claiming Council
Chair-apparent Mel Rapozo is trying to "consolidate power" and make "public and
Council participation discretionary."

Oh, that evil, scary Mel.

The subject at hand is the Council's
rules, or more specifically, a few revisions introduced by Mel as a resolution for adoption at today's inaugural meeting.

Andy, channeling Gary, claims the
revisions will “deny Councilmembers the right to introduce bills.”
They apparently came to that conclusion because Mel eliminated a
provision that says any bill or resolution must be placed on the
agenda within 120 days of a written request to the Chair. Mel says
the 120-day deadline isn't realistic because legislation must be
vetted by the County Attorney's office. Gary automatically took that
to mean he ain't gettin' nuttin' on the agenda no more. Paranoia,
anyone?

Andy/Gary also falsely claim the rules will
“cut public testimony in half.” Mel is proposing to eliminate the
time at the beginning of the meeting, where up to six people can
speak for three minutes each on any agenda item. Under the existing rules, if they speak then, they're not allowed to testify when the
item comes up. While this provision can be useful to those who don't
want to wait to testify, it is most often used by Council nitpickers
Glenn Mickens and Joe Rosa to ramble on, creating a deadzone at the
beginning of each meeting.

Under Mel's revisions, people would
still be allowed to speak for three minutes when the item comes up on
the agenda, with an additional three granted at the chair's
discretion after everyone else has testified, just as in the existing rules.

This seems reasonable.
It's very rare that people actually need more than six minutes to
make their point — including Councilmembers. I've found it's often
best to testify when the item is being discussed, as often new
information has come forward with staff reports or Council
discussion. Those who can't wait, or don't want to, can still submit
written testimony.

This is a red-herring that Gary/Andy
have thrown out to make it seem like Mel is trying to shut down
public testimony. Just like how Gary/Andy falsely claimed that
Mel's “major rewrite” of the rules would allow the Chair to cut
off testimony characterized by “intemperate or abusive behavior or
language,” giving rise to “arbitrary and capricious” attacks on
free speech.

Which sounds so alarming — except that
provision is already in the existing rules.

In going over both the existing and
proposed rules, I did notice the provision for the public petitioning
the Council, and the process for receiving such petitions, had been
eliminated in the new rules. So do petitions go straight in the trash?

Gary's also whining because the Chair
must approve workshops under the new rules, which means Gary may not
be able to use that process to pander and push his own private
agenda, as he's been doing with the bogus, totally unbalanced
sessions on groundwater resources in the Lihue area.

Gary needs to face the fact that Mel is
now the alpha dog in the Council pack — the hands-down top
vote-getter, chosen by the will of the people in a democratic
process, to use phrases that Gary and his anti-GMO contingent love to
toss out — but only when it suits their purposes. Gary, on the
other hand, barely squeaked in at seventh place, which places him at
the bottom of the pack hierarchy. And that means submission will
serve him better than aggression.

But then, Gary's ego has yet to align
with reality. Which is why he sent out a fundraising appeal for his
HAPA organization, claiming the group will continue to reap its
successes — despite all those failures in the courts — if it can
just do a better job at working with the mainstream media, educating
the public and building a stronger statewide coalition.

Gee, that's all?

Oh, and by supporting our “friends in
the legal community.”

By which he means
Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety — two groups that have
joined the appeal process for Bill 2491/Ordinance 960, an appeal that
Gary voted to authorize.

Gary then goes on to outline the
group's objectives, which he has helpfully reduced to bumper sticker
simplicity: Taking Back Our Government, People over Profits and Think
Global, Act Local (as in doing the bidding of mainland advocacy
groups while flashing a shaka and speaking fake pidgin.)

To alleviate all our concerns, Gary
added this caveat:

NOTE: H.A.P.A. is not and will not be
involved with lobbying or direct advocacy on any issues pending
before the Kauai County Council.

Why should it lobby? It's got a member
on the Council.

He then goes on to write:

In general H.A.P.A. does not lobby.
We educate, we support grass roots movement building and we support
legal efforts to protect and preserve the health and well-being of
people and the environment.

In other words, it uses its nonprofit
status to hide its donors and serve as a political actor, without
actually registering as a lobbyist.

And it will do so until someone calls
them on it with a complaint to the Hawaii State
Ethics Commission that hopefully includes unregistered lobbyists and HAPA allies Center for Food Safety and Hawaii SEED.

10 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Food activists and the industry are looking to a court case between Vermont and a major food distribution association as a bellwether for the future of genetically modified foods.

In May, the state legislature voted to require food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be labeled as such. If the law goes into effect in 2016, Vermont will become the first state to require such labeling. But first it will have to stand up in federal court: the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which is funded by a coalition of companies including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Starbucks and Monsanto, along with three other industry groups, sued the state shortly after the law passed.

Now, several other states with pending ballot initiatives and legislation that would similarly require GMO labeling are awaiting the district court’s decision. Arguments are tentatively scheduled for mid-December, according to Vermont’s attorney general.

When i read Andy's blog, i thought that guy always thinks the sky is falling. Ken, Glenn and Joe R are responsible for the rule to reduce the speaking time at the beginning, we are all tired of hearing them, self appointed to render their opinion on every single topic. They have made fools of themselves while wasting everyone's time. Good rule change. Congratulation's to the council and Mayor

This is a red-herring that Gary/Andy have thrown out to make it seem like Mel is trying to shut down public testimony. Just like how Gary/Andy falsely claimed that Mel's “major rewrite” of the rules would allow the Chair to cut off testimony characterized by “intemperate or abusive behavior or language,” giving rise to “arbitrary and capricious” attacks on free speech.

Looks like Kauai has hatched a new species of bird, the Gandy. Related to the Booby but louder and more predatory, its behavior, driven by an insatiable desire to be at the top of the pecking order, is marked by a compulsive fouling of its own nest and those of other birds. Pedestrians, public gatherings and clean laundry hanging outdoors are at risk of aerial bombastment.

The only few the rules hurt are Mel's allies. Thank Goodness Mel's common sense and desire to conduct real business didn't get influenced by the "nitpickers".Anyway you slice the GMO infused papaya, Gary's HAPA presidency should stop him from any votes regarding Agriculture, Taxes, Water, Air, Roads, Development and other foofarah. These are all red herrings, the County is broke. The Council must decide what gets cut or agree to higher taxes. No 2 ways about it.As an island, we have some big bad issues facing us.

Gary using Andy "I never Had A Job" Parx as his public relations/media expert is pathetic. And apropos, Gary is anti-Ag, anti-JOB, anti-Hotel, anti-PMRF...these two are perfect, symbiotic sycophants. Ass-kissing whiners.Gary's economic plan is for everyone to be a rich newcomer or on welfare. If you really want to hear Andy screech, cut some of that Section 8 Housing that Andy has been glomming on forever. Andy could be the prototype of a nudnik (nudnik- a person who makes a situation far better by their absence)---.

I hope Hooser is isolated like a serious disease on the body politic of the Council. He is a plague of misinformation, disaffections, persistent feuds, and infectious allies. It seems the only thing he can cooperate in is his own advancement.

The old rule of allowing up to 6 people to speak at the beginning was limiting in itself, because if 7 people wanted to speak, the 7th had to wait anyway. It was arbitrary and useless. Mel simply proposed returning the agenda process to normal.

The statement in Parx the Hooser puppet's blog that the first Council meeting is "mostly ceremonial" and that the rules should be discussed by the public was also straight-out garbage. The Council HAS to decide on the rules at the first meeting. Gary knows this, Parx knows this, but, as always, they depend on their fisties to not know the law so they can continue their agenda to divide the Kauai community for personal gain.